A Lot Like Love

A Lot Like Love

Chapter 1.

We're Family

Jack Bolton hurried down the hall, sweat pounding off his forehead. His heart was beating like crazy, and he really felt like crying. He needed to cry, he needed to get it out. But he needed to find his son too. It was a matter of life and death. That was why he was almost running in the hallway, even though he was one of the teachers who always told the students not to.

He was always happy, and usually, when the students greeted him with a "Hi Coach Bolton!", he stopped to chat for a few seconds, but today he was in a hurry, and he came off kinda sombre. He didn't even have the heart to make fun of Mrs. Darbus, when he brushed past her in the hallway, he just continued with his huge steps, and his pounding heart, down the hallway.

He had to get to Troy. To Troy, to Troy, to Troy.

He found him talking to a lot of his team-mates, leaning against his locker, even though there was only about a minute until the break was over. He stopped in front of his son, and Troy could immediately tell that something was wrong.

"Dad?" he questioned, pushing Jason aside, to stand in front of his father.

"Troy…" Jack said, swallowing hard, "There's been an accident."

"An accident?" Troy asked, his eyes getting wide, "What do you mean, by accident, dad?"

"It's Tessa." Jack blurted out, "She was hit by a car."

Troy froze for a second, as he thought of the last words he said to his little sister. Or rather yelled at her. He told her to leave him the fuck alone when he was changing, and the 11 year old just found it funnier to annoy him when he didn't want her to. He couldn't imagine, right there, ever living without their arguments. And he knew so many people who'd cry their eyes out because of these horrible news.

"Is… is she okay?" Troy asked, as Chad padded him reassuringly on the back.

"She's in the hospital, getting surgery right now, or something." Jack said, "Your mom called, she wants us to come down there. She told me to bring the family…" he paused and breathed out, "So, I'll go start the car, and you get Sharpay, okay?"

"Of course!" Troy nodded, pushing his father away from him, and starting down the hallway towards the classroom where he knew Sharpay had French next. Chad followed close behind him, looking confused.

"The Ice Queen? Why do you need to get the Ice Queen?"

"I just do, okay!" Troy snapped, turning the corner, and brushing right through a sea of people, and into the classroom, which Sharpay also shared with Gabriella. Her face immediately lit up when she saw him, expecting him to come see her, but he walked past her, and stopped in front of Sharpay, breathing heavily.

She looked up at him, arching her well-shaped eyebrow, though affections were seen in her eyes, "What do you want Bolton?"

"Cut the act, Sharpay!" Troy quickly said, while starting to grab her stuff, and pull her from her chair, all the while ignoring the looks he got, "Tess was hit by a car."

"What!?" Sharpay shrieked, as she stood up, and her face fell, "Oh my God, Troy! Is she okay? Are you? What about your mom? Where's your dad? Are-are we leaving?" she questioned, as he grabbed her hand, and dragged her towards the door.

"We're going to the hospital, yes." Troy told her, but was stopped by Chad, who blocked the door.

"What do I tell Mrs. Darbus?" he asked, looking at Troy.

"Tell her I had a family emergency!" Troy said, using his 'I don't know, don't care'-tone.

"And what about the Ice Queen?" Chad asked, nodding his head towards Sharpay, who was standing close up against Troy, small tears in her eyes.

"Just…" Troy trailed off for a second, before getting his voice back, "Just tell her that the Ice Queen-" he stopped by the look Sharpay gave him, "…I mean Sharpay had a family emergency too."

"And tell Ry I'll be home later!" Sharpay quickly added, before Troy pulled her out of the room, and through the hallways, where they got some pretty odd stares, because it was unusual. Seeing the Ice Queen and the Basketball King walking through the hallway, hands linked together. It was weird.

Jack was waiting right outside, and Sharpay and Troy jumped into the back of the car, and he drove off towards the hospital immediately. The three of them felt like their world had just ended. They couldn't imagine, young fragile Tessa being in the hospital, they just wanted everything to be okay.

Troy and Sharpay had a weird friendship. They had been neighbours forever, and when they were 7 years old, they made the 'Messenger', as they called it, between their bedroom windows, which were right in front of each other. They started by sending messages to each other, and they still did it, because those kind of things just caught on. They also used to share a lot of basketball games together before Sharpay became too girly to want to engage in them, which caused Troy to be quite unhappy. But they made it work, though.